The Top 5 Tips for Ordering Wine in a Restaurant

While ordering wine, novices can encounter several challenges that may cause embarrassment, confusion, or misunderstanding. Wine in a restaurant is expensive, and thus, making the right choice is essential. The question is regarding the investment and if it would pair well with the food. While it is not necessary to be a wine connoisseur, a few tips here and there might help hit the bulls-eye in ordering wine. This carefully curated list of the top 5 tips for ordering wine in a restaurant can be a game changer for you.

Critical Tips to Order Wine Like A Pro

When all the eyes are set on you to order the best food and wine pairings at a restaurant, instead of being nervous, try the following expert tips for ordering a wine:

Always Consider the Wine and Food Pairing

The first of the top 5 tips for ordering wine in a restaurant begins with deciding the food and wine match. While selecting wine for the table, be accommodating and incorporate every person’s food choice in the wine-picking decision. If clashing food styles overpower the selection, order by the glass or a couple of bottles to pass the night. While the sommelier might help you decide, you can pick an option by finding a link between the wine and the food. For instance, high-fat and oily foods go well with high-tannin red wines. Light and delicate dishes deserve a similar tasting wine for the palate. Chilli can get downed with a fruity-flavoured sweet wine. Riesling, ice wines, and port wines can pair well with desserts. Thus, weigh the wine’s intensity, flavour, texture, and weight with the food to arrive at the best choices. 

Inquire the Somm/ Sommelier

One of the primary errors people make while ordering wine in a restaurant is not utilising the service and expertise of the sommelier. The sommelier knows the intricacies of the menu and the best wine pairings available. Since they help craft the wine list and food servings, they’d happily let you in on the wine history and personality. Moreover, if you are into tasting unusual and unique wines, the sommelier’s suggestions will not disappoint you.

You can begin by letting them know of your food choices and an idea of your budget. It will help them suggest wines to try accordingly. Asking questions about the wine and clearing your doubts is not embarrassing or dumb-looking. Instead, it shows confidence and eagerness to learn and adapt to new things.

Thus, the top 5 tips for ordering wine in a restaurant involve asking the pros and sommeliers for better insights.

Establish a Price Range

When going to a restaurant, the wine might be more expensive than your thoughts, or the sommelier might try to upsell you. Being firm with your price range and communicating it clearly to the server is the key to getting a fantastic under-budget treat. Wines at a lesser price are also delicious. Thus, the top 5 tips for ordering wine in a restaurant require you to ask your sommelier and get a bottle or glass accordingly. 

Just asking to bring a reasonably priced bottle will not be clear to the server as the word means different things to people. You cannot get classified as a cheapskate if you order a moderately-priced wine. Many delicious wines are affordable for people. Thus, politely communicate the price range directly. If you cannot clarify the amount straightforwardly, you can also give hints like asking the price point and style of a bottle you enjoyed earlier or pointing to a bottle and asking for a red or white one around the same price.

Wine Tasting Etiquettes

The right to taste wine is available to people and does not make them look like snobs. Instead, restaurants offering wine taste tests enable weeding out the bad ones, so your experience doesn’t get ruined. Several wine bottles go off because of cork taints (mould on the corks), causing the wine to smell like wet cardboard and altering the flavour. Even if it slightly lessens the fruit aromas, paying good money for the same is not advisable. 

The top 5 tips for ordering wine in a restaurant also guide you with faulty wine detection dos and don’ts. If you cannot detect faulty wines, you can ask the sommelier to smell the wine without feeling embarrassed. It is their job to provide the best wine experience. Also, do not think wine bottles with screw caps will always be perfect. Even they can have a flat and dull taste due to transportation damage. Always check your wines thoroughly and return them if it’s not up to the mark. 

Understand the Wine Presentation

Wine presentation is not just for aesthetics. Restaurants practice this ritual to enable you to determine the quality of the wine bottle. Their presentation helps you check any damage, cork taint, etc., suffered by the bottle. You can check the unopened bottle through the label and determine if it is what you want. Further, when they uncork the bottle, examine the cork and ensure it’s wet from the inside. The top 5 tips for ordering wine in a restaurant tell how a dry and crumbly cork is a red flag. Vinegar, mouldy, or musty wine is a bad sign. Return the bottle without getting embarrassed if it is not up to the mark.

Final Words

Getting through the ritual of ordering wine may seem like an ordeal, but it can be seamless with these top 5 tips for ordering wine in a restaurant if you book Hunter Valley private wine tours in Sydney Australia.

Read other news from Hunter Valley

• Hunter Valley Olives
• Best sparkling wines from Hunter Valley
• Restaurants in Hunter Valley
• Dog-friendly accommodation in Hunter Valley
• Girls’ Weekend in Hunter Valley